She turned off of rural route 4 onto the driveway Billy said would be there. It wasn't much of a driveway, more of a five foot wide place where the grass was short between two dirt wheel grooves. She started to second guess Billy's directions until she passed a blackened patch with a burned cross in front of it. She hadn't believed places where the KKK ruled still existed. Now she knew better.
She was glad it wasn't night. Now that she was past the burn site, the driveway was hard to detect. It would have been impossible in the dark. This part of the drive hadn't been used as much in recent years. She pulled up to some beams laying in the grass that obviously served to mark the parking, though there were no cars here now.
She stared out the front windshield. The beautiful stone house in front of her was nothing like she'd expected. It was hand built but done so well that she doubted the corners and angles were off by even one degree. The roof was odd looking. It could have been natural, peat maybe. It was large, but not sprawling, and looked quite at home where it sat. There was a greenhouse attached to one side and a wide porch stretched across the entire front of the home. No wonder Tara Kay had been homesick for this place. Even something as archaic as the KKK couldn't deter from it's beauty and draw.
She got out of the car and winced when it slammed shut. It seemed irreverent to bring the modern world out here to interrupt the houses peace. She approached the house with her hands at her sides, carefully open to show that she was no threat. She didn't know who was there or if they knew who she was. Nathalia had to have gotten there last night and with her attitude, anyone on Tara Kay's side would now be on alert.
She climbed the wooden steps, noting how sturdy they were despite their apparent age. She knocked and when no one answered, she took a peek into the window to her right. Other than some odd choices in furniture, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She called out but wasn't hopeful that anyone was within earshot. She didn't see any evidence of violence, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched as she turned back to her car. It wasn't coming from the house, but the woods.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the cop car pulled up and parked beside hers. The eerie voyeur feeling went away. She went down the steps. A short man got out the driver's seat, put on his hat and started to walk towards her with the purpose of a lawman. A tall black man with a military build got out of the passenger side and reached back, opening the rear door to let a young white man out.
Before the sheriff was halfway across the yard, the young man ran up behind him. Without warning he slit the small sheriff's throat. Just like in the movies, for a second nothing happened and then a red line appeared. The blood flowed out all at once. The sheriff dropped to his knees and then fell face down in the grass.
Stunned, Maeve had just stood there staring. Now she moved. She ran back up the steps onto the porch. When the door wouldn't open, she banged on the locked door and yelled for someone, anyone, to let her in.
“No one's home.”, the young man told her. “Quit that hollerin'. T'aint doin' nobody no good and it's givin' me a headache.”
Maeve quit. She put her hands up and called over her shoulder, “I didn't get a good look at either of you. I don't know what's going on here but I've got nothing to do with it. Just let me go and I promise I won't be any help to anyone coming after you. I'm nobody. Please. I have a baby at home.”
She couldn't see the dagger that he held as the black man climbed the steps. “Oh, but something tells me you are somebody. You have everything to do with what's going on here. You might not be an unclaimed Sinnis, but the dagger wants your blood. Wants it even more than Tara Kay's.” He unholstered a gun and put a quick shot in her right foot. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder, ignoring her cries. “Can't have you running off the first second we turn our backs. Come on. This is no place for the mother of 'The One' to die. But don't worry, the perfect spot isn't far away.”
***
Montana stood in the center of the orchard clearing, uncertain what to do now. The woman he'd found at Tara Kay's house lay at his feet, dying. The dagger had demanded her blood and it had a way of getting what it wanted. He'd stabbed her with the white dagger three, maybe four, times in the chest. And what a glorious chest it had been. Her curves were extreme, almost grotesque. He was fairly sure he had missed her heart but from the way she was gurgling, he knew he'd hit one of her lungs. He jumped when two Nephilim and their Sinnis appeared in a circle around him. He held the knife out and pulled the dart gun from his waist belt.
He pointed it at the woman warrior who had destroyed his shoulder, and the entire Paion unit he worked with. She was his biggest danger.
She screamed when she saw the dying woman on the ground. Fire raged in her eyes and her right arm flattened and changed into a short sword using the metals in her body. The two Nephilim were quick to follow suit. He had no chance if they attacked all at once. “She's not dead yet. She will be soon though. I might not be able to get all of you but which of you halfbreeds wants to risk the DakuAhu tasting the flesh of your Sinnis?”
He brandished the dagger in Tara Kay's general direction. Tara Kay didn't have to ask her, Kiyahwe just opened up a hole under his feet. It was just a foot in diameter. When she sucked Montana down it, there should have been blood and guts everywhere but the suction took every drop with him. The dagger went flying. They could deal with it later.
Nathalia and Tara Kay ran to Maeve. Nathalia shoved Kay away. Don't touch her! This is your fault.
“That might be true but, I can save her. Billy was much worse off when I gave him my blood.”
No. Nathalia clutched Maeve's bloody body to hers. She rocked back and forth on her knees.
“Think about it, Nathalia. She's going to die unless she gets our blood. Be reasonable! Ereshkigal's Laws were made before you knew anything about us, before you knew anything about how good the children of light could be. You can hold on to those ridiculous rules or you can see Maeve live.”
It was true that Nathalia had already broken one of Ereshkigal's laws when she drank from Eiran. That law had clearly been a mistake. A Nephilim and Sinnis could drink from one another without becoming Akhkharu. Maybe she was wrong about them all. I don't know if it is what she would want.
“Everyone would rather live than die, no matter what the conditions for that life might be. Do it fast or the decision will be made for you.” If Maeve died before they could get the conversion started, she would be an animated corpse.
Nathalia found that she couldn't move. Her body was petrified. Tara Kay didn't hesitate. She tore through the thin skin at her wrist, opening a wound that would last long enough. The earth shifted again and Kay stumbled away from Maeve and Nathalia. Oren caught her, lifting her to her feet.
Lightning filled her whole body and Kay could feel the increased activity in her brain. She heard Kiyahwe's voice, just like before and Tara Kay prayed a seizure wouldn't follow. The great Mother's words came from her mouth, “We would have the Holy Mother of the One saved, made, but it must be done by the First or not at all. She has been your friend, confidant, even lover and now she will be your child.”
Nathalia looked terrified. It was her decision. Just her. There was no real decision. Not when it was Maeve. This would change things but she would have to deal with that when the time came. Her and Maeve would face this together.
Nathalia cradled Maeve. She tore through the thin skin of her own wrist, as Tara Kay had done. She put it against Maeve's too pale mouth. She put her own mouth against a hole in Maeve's chest. She drew the blood from Maeve's lungs, as if she couldn't stand the temptation. As Nathalia fed from Maeve's generous bounty, the matchmaker began to move under her.
She sounded mournful when Nathalia pulled away. Nathalia tore her other wrist and allowed the blood to run into the stab wounds. Maeve was a horrible sight by the time the wounds stopped flowing, but under all that gore, they could tell she was whole.
The great mother, Kiyahwe, spoke to th
em through Tara Kay. She knew Nathalia was too proud to give up her misguided laws without motivation. She also knew that Nathalia loved Maeve more than Ereshkigal believed in her own infallibility. She used Maeve to ensure Nathalia would never threaten a progeny based solely on their conversion. Each should be judged based on their life and only Kiyahwe could judge. Maeve would be happy in her new form. It meant she and her mate could live forever and see their daughter grow up to save their world and every life on it.
So caught up in hearing their Goddess were they, that none saw Matt approach with the dagger. He had retrieved it while they tended to Maeve. Now he waived it wildly. He wasn't aiming it at any of them, but rather drawing with it in the open space of the orchard.
At that moment, Tara Kay remembered.
“Fuck you assholes! I'm going to kick the shit out of you cocksuckers!” A steady stream of obscenities had started pouring out of Tara Kay's mouth as soon as the SOFE had bound her and had not stopped since. “Dry it up”, she commanded. The girl beside her was crying. Worthless fucking water witches, Kay thought.
Why had she evaded the tracking spell? She had known it was in that tea Ingrid had given her. She was angry with herself. If she got out of this, she was going to give up her stubborn ways. She might even go beg the Abbess to forgive her and take her back. But those were thoughts for another time. Right now she really needed to get away.
She looked at her legs again for the hundredth time. Her feet were sunk down in the soggy earth up to her ankles. The ground was saturated with blood in a large circle around a flat stone. It splashed red up on her legs when the girl on her other side struggled. Good for you, fire witch, she thought. At least she was trying something, even if it was futile.
Their feet wouldn't budge. Well, that wasn't entirely true: she could move forward toward the center but nothing would make her get closer to that psycho. He was waiving that white and red dagger, dancing around, fighting invisible enemies.
I'm going to get killed by fucking Don Quixote, she thought.
She almost smirked but then something happened. A thin trail of light replaced a spot where the knife had been. She thought it was a falling star at first but it hadn't gone away. In fact it grew. Longer and wider, the light coming from it was beautiful. It was calling her. She took a few steps forward before she realized what she was doing and could stop herself.
The gap wasn't growing. It was being pulled open. From the inside. Tara Kay stared as an elongated hand seemingly made of light reached out to her. At first she could only feel elated but then she felt what was really happening. That thing with the glowing hand was pulling from her. She had never felt her magic before, not like a part of her body, but now that it was being taken she could feel the invisible appendage.
She shrieked as her ability was torn from her.
Tara Kay wanted to throw up. How could she not have recognized what was being set up here? The circle that had taken her powers was just like this. Soaked in blood, hers and the women torn to shreds there, it was perfectly staged. The dagger was brandished by a wild man. Just like in her memory, it snagged on the edge of this reality and tore through the veil. Light poured through the slit and for a moment Kay was filled with euphoria.
A hole opened up under Matt's feet, not unlike the one that had killed Montana. He was sucked down a foot and then two. A glowing hand, made of light, reached out of the slice he'd made in the veil and grabbed Matt's arm, the one that held the dagger. The two Shinar forces, the one from the other side and Yahwe's, played tug of war with Matt's body. He screamed and then he tore in two at the waist, his lower half disappearing into the earth and his top, with a tail of spinal cord, went into the cut along with the dagger.
The tear was now being pulled open from the inside. Tara Kay could see bodies on the other side pushing to get through. The euphoria had passed and panic set in. She thought about how the gap had been closed last time.
The SOFE, not bound in the blood circle but standing around them watching, began to scream too. Apparently they hadn't known whatever they were letting out was going to take from all of them. Tara Kay could only think one thing. The gods of old wanted what was stolen from them. The thought didn't make any sense to her but she only had a second to think about its absurdity.
An angel stepped in front of her, cutting off whatever connection the hand had with everyone. The pain stopped, but she felt weak. The giant man was nude and had his arms and wings out spread eagle. His fingers just barely touched another man doing the same on either side of him. They all stepped forward, closing the circle, their bat-like wings overlapping.
The blood disappeared from around their legs as the angels closed ranks. She was free, but she couldn't leave. She heard singing. No, it was more than that. Every sound she heard was involved. Every breeze, car horn, and cricket was intricately woven into the sound. It was more beautiful than anything she'd ever heard before. The light emanating from the center of the angels brightened, silhouetting them against it, and then it dimmed and died away.
Tara Kay needed a Nephilim circle to close the gap. None of the Nephilim here now were there then. They didn't seem to know what to do. There was no one to stop this. She begged Kiyahwe not to let it happen to her again. She would not survive this time. Tara Kay felt a pull on her power but it couldn't be torn from her. It was secured to her in a different way. She glanced at Nathalia, still clutching Maeve's body.
Both of the women still fed from each other. They were in beautiful agony. Kay remembered the look on the faces she'd seen on the SOFE in the last circle. The light on the other side could steal their abilities. Tara Kay shoved her hands into the fertile soil, enriching her connection to Kiyahwe. She pleaded with Kiyahwe, “Help me close the gap.”
The earth in front of her began to shift. A mound grew between them and the glowing light. The dirt grew tall and then took on a humanoid form. When the face formed, it smiled at Kay. Red light shone through the constantly shifting and cracking facade, like seeing lava flowing and cooling underwater. Kiyahwe walked among them.
The differences were not subtle, but it was obvious that Kiyahwe and the Shinar shared the same form at one time. They were all made of glowing life, but though Yahwe shone just as bright, she was more dense. Her flesh was churning, turbulent, like molten magma. The Shinar were not solid, just pure energy, It was the difference between the heat of the earth's core and the sun's plasma. Yahwe was female where the Shinar were androgynous. Her hair was long but instead of hanging down her back the way the still day would dictate, it swirled up and around her. It was made of flame and heat waves, some tendrils were blue and some clear, with tips of orange and yellow. The Shinar had no hair, but were covered in what looked like solar flares.
Nathalia and Maeve's perceived pain was halted the second Kiyahwe manifested. She put herself between the women and the danger. She moved slowly, closing the distance between her and the tear. Her presence ignited the Shinar fervor. They tried desperately to get through to Her. Their color changed and a blackness grew in their center. It wasn't just a dark spot, it was a black hole. It tugged at Kiyahwe's edges. Some of Her flesh was sucked off, flying through the slit.
Kiyahwe didn't let it hurry Her. She pulled a hair from Her head and used it to meticulously sew up the tear. It wasn't the seam that made the Shinar pull back. It was the song. It came from Kiyahwe's mouth but it also emanated all around them. It was a woman's voice, the most beautiful imaginable, accompanied by the earth moving under their feet, the most terrifying sound. Grinding earthquakes, rumbling thunder, whistling tornadoes, a roaring fire and a raging river accented Her every word.
Maeve was still unconscious but the two Nephilim and their Sinnis witnessed this tremendous occurrence. It wasn't just sound. The earth moved under them. It split and they could see the water table's upheaval. The sky was filled with cyclones and flashing lightning. Flames consumed trees.
In a flash, it was done. The sky returned to normal, as did the ground
. The trees smoldered but the fire died. She spoke in their minds and they were grateful her words were not backed by the earth's rebellion.
We closed the portal they opened using the blood of the mother. They have a vessel and a weapon coated with holy blood. Together the two can be used to cut through the veil anywhere it is weakened by bloodshed and violence. This is a dangerous time for all life on Ki.
Couldn't She just close it up whenever the Shinar tried to come through? She had just now, Tara Kay thought.
Kiyahwe smiled at Kay. She heard her thoughts. No, My chosen. Ki weights Me down, anchors Me. It is a small price to pay to be joined with the one I love most. Ki and I are joined as one. Manifesting through Her flesh hurts us both, weakens Us. Much time must pass before We can do that again. If I were to separate from Her, I could deal with the Shinar but My nature, without Ki, would drain life from Her. As it is, I cannot keep from pulling from Nephilim when they travel through me.
Suddenly all of Eiran's warnings made sense. He warned Nathalia that moving through Her was dangerous. She thought it was because of the addictive nature of tabalu, but it was because of Yahwe. She was Shinar. She fed on life and She had no control over it without Ki's calming influence. Nathalia had so much to ask Her but this was not the time. Kiyahwe's attention was on Tara Kay. Nathalia did not envy her. What weight must the attentions of a Goddess carry.
Kiyahwe was capable of conversing to all of them at the same time. To Nathalia She said, Never again should you judge the Akhkharu without the One as you did in the desert. Eitan sealed his fate long ago and so I do not hold his death against you, but it was not the time to die for those on the plateau. You are too quick to anger, too quick to action. That is why Those Who See and Observe chose you. They use your own nature against you, and when they come through, they will take the life you have collected for themselves and yours with it. They use you to collect so that killing you will bring them much of the power I separated from them. You are not only Their chosen but the first of the sister Fates. If you are with Us, against Those Who See and Observe, you must refrain from taking life. There is a greater battle coming and we will need all the allies we can collect. Akhkharu must be given one more chance to choose righteousness and love.
Ishtar Rising Page 18